Customer Reviews

Dolled Up For Murder (A Dolls to Die For Mystery)

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3 star:		(2)
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Baker's first mystery in this new series introduces a quirky set of characters in a fun cozy. Gretchen Birch's mother restores dolls for collectors. Her Aunt Nina trains small dogs to ride in purses. Gretchen herself is unemployed with a long-term boyfriend who's cheating on her. When her aunt calls, Gretchen hightails it off to Phoenix. It seems that Gretchen's mother, Caroline, has disappeared following a death on Camelback Mountain, and Caroline is wanted for questioning.

This mystery is filled with tension and suspense. Even so, Baker is able to introduce the reader to the world of doll collectiing, while moving the story along at a fast clip.

Readers looking for fun characters, fast-moving stories, or great descriptions of Arizona can't go wrong with this first cozy in a new series.

Gretchen Birch's mother, Caroline, is missing and suspected of murder. Gretchen's aunt Nina calls and convinces Gretchen she needs to come to Phoenix to help her find her mother and clear her name. Caroline is accused of murdering a homeless former doll collector found dead at the bottom of a cliff. Caroline is a part of the doll collecting community. She was seen fleeing the crime scene. And now she's missing and all the evidence points to her.

Gretchen and Nina know Caroline is innocent, but without being able to contact her, they aren't sure how to clear her name. They start digging into the dead woman's life and the doll collecting community. Can they clear Caroline's name without putting the killer on their trail?

This is the first in a new series. It is great. I can't wait to read the next one. Gretchen and Nina are wonderful characters. The theme doll collecting really added to the storyline. The Phoenix setting was great as well.

I highly recommend this book.

This was a very good debut of a new mystery series. Gretchen Birch comes from a family of very lively women. All of them are crazy, wildly impulsive and very disorganized. Gretchen puts this down to a "renegade gene passed down through generations of Birch women".
Gretchen gets a call from her Aunt Nina in the wee hours of the morning telling her she has to come home to Phoenix because her Mom is missing. She even went so far as to book her a flight at 7am. Caroline Birch is a doll collector and belongs to the Phoenix Dollers. She often goes off to an auction or the hunt for an antique doll without telling anyone. Gretchen wasn't really worried but she couldn't say `no' to her Aunt.

Martha, a homeless drunk, use-to-be doll collector was murdered. That same day Caroline disappears. She takes a flight out of town. The police think she is running away. Why else would she take off right after the murder? At one time Martha owned one of the most prestigious, grandest, antique doll collections in the country. After she lost her home and all her belongings it was a mystery as to what happened to the collection. She hadn't sold it. Where was it?

While Gretchen is in Phoenix trying to figure out exactly what happened to Martha and where her mother could be, Caroline is off trying to find a doll and win it on an eBay auction. She wants to trap "The Inspector" who has already sold one of the dolls in Martha's collection. She knows that if she doesn't succeed she will die.

The clues are leading Gretchen to all kinds of suspects in the doll collecting community. In the meantime Matt Albright, a local detective is convinced that Caroline pushed Martha off the mountain. It's a race to see who will succeed - Caroline - Matt - Gretchen - the unknown Inspector?

The characters in Dolled Up for Murder are great. They range from the eccentric Aunt Nina to the homeless man Macho Nacho. The story line flows and keeps you turning pages throughout. I am looking forward to the next Doll Collectors/Birch Women mystery

Normally, repeated phone calls from her drama queen Aunt Nina at three in the morning wouldn't raise any alarms for Gretchen Birch. This time, however, Nina is justified in calling Gretchen back home to Phoenix. It seems that Gretchen's mother Caroline has disappeared, just after being implicated by a note found on the body of a destitute doll collector who fell to her death. While Gretchen knows that her mother is innocent the local law enforcement isn't so sure, so with no job and a commitment-phobic cheating boyfriend Gretchen decides that she needs to start the hunt for her mother.

An expert doll restorer, Caroline is off desperately attempting to pursue her own investigation, while back in Phoenix her workshop is raided by the police and more clues seem to point towards her guilt. Exasperated with the police, her missing mother, and her aunt who is busy with her business training pampered pooches to sit in purses, Gretchen follows the trail of clues through the surprisingly dark world of obsessive doll collectors.

Full of entertaining and fully developed characters, Baker creates a humorous yet realistic novel that incorporates but isn't overwhelmed by the field of doll collecting. Gretchen's barbed wit and devotion to her mother make her an extremely likable character strong enough to hold a series on her own, but additional characters like the cop with an overwhelming fear of dolls, an obese collector of miniature dolls, and a homeless couple who hold vital information make this debut series a delight to read. There's enough action to satisfy even the anti-cozy reader and the ending definitely leaves the door open for a sequel. This is a series with the potential to develop a strong following and Deb Baker is an author to be watched.

I enjoyed this first installment in the "Dolls" series. The characters are a fun mix and the interaction is wonderful. Gretchen Birch, our heroine, is facing some of the typical problems in life while dealing with a situation involving her mother. To add to this, meet Aunt Nina and her "special powers" of perception. Meeting these two and all of the other characters in this story make learning about doll collecting fun.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this book, but I loved it! I am a doll maker myself and was intrigued with the concept of doll collectors being involved in a murder mystery. Quick read, lots of great characters. Looking forward to next installment.

First Line: Head buried under a mound of pillows, Gretchen Birch struggled to ignore the phone's incessant ringing.

I almost stopped reading the book a few pages in when I identified the Bad Guy. (The author and I like the same Peter Sellers films.) What kept me reading? Oh... things like Baker's writing style, the Phoenix metropolitan setting, and the "doll angle". My grandmother collected antique dolls, and I picked up a lot of knowledge by osmosis.

Anyway... Gretchen Birch gets a phone call from her Aunt Nina in Phoenix. A homeless woman who had previously collected dolls was found dead at the base of a cliff. She was clutching a note in one hand that certainly seems to implicate Gretchen's mother in her death. To make matters worse, Gretchen's mother, Caroline, has disappeared. Gretchen packs a bag and catches the next plane to Phoenix. (Why do I feel as though I'm about to channel Glen Campbell?)

One of the first things Gretchen does when she settles down in her mother's house is to hike up Camelback Mountain. In July. In the afternoon. I began to think this young woman had a few too many screws loose. Then her Aunt Nina who trains purse dogs made an appearance, and the two of them were off to the races, driving all over the Valley checking in with other doll collectors and trying to avoid the detective who's following them.

I'm very glad I didn't stop reading when I figured out whodunit. I'm very glad I remembered that it's not always all about WHO; many times HOW and WHY are every bit as important in a mystery. Gretchen, her Aunt Nina and her mom Caroline were all engaging characters, and I really enjoyed all the information Baker shared about doll collecting. However, I hope that the next time I read about Gretchen hiking up Camelback Mountain, it's not on a July afternoon. Just the thought of it makes me feel a bit woozy.

[Source: Paperback Swap]

Gretchen Birch has been trying to sleep through the constant ringing of her phone. It's her Aunt Nina, her mother's sister; the first call was about some woman named Martha falling off a mountain and something about Gretchen's mother, Caroline. Finally, she's had it and answers the phone. Nina tells her that Caroline is missing and might be involved with Martha's death and Gretchen needs to get to the airport to catch her flight. The ticket is waiting, and hurry because she needs to be at the airport by seven a.m. -- then Nina hangs up.

Wow, Dolled Up for Murder starts with a rush -- to pack clothes, Wobbles the cat, and get to the airport to catch a flight to Phoenix, AZ in the middle of summer. But it couldn't be better timing since Gretchen's been laid off and hasn't found work, her boyfriend is getting standoffish, and time is marching on. In other words, Gretchen is approaching a lower middle-age crisis. She's been dating Steve for seven years and she doesn't think things are going anywhere. She can't seem to find another job and she's realized as she packs just how few close friends she has in Boston.

Of course she doesn't think anything has really happened to her mother but she would like to see her again. Then, when she arrives, she learns her mother is implicated in the murder of Martha Williams and the police want to know where Caroline is now. Neither Nina or Gretchen know. They soon realize it is up to them to find out what's going on because the police seem to have their minds made up. And, everything seems to revolve around a doll, a French fashion doll. Gretchen had helped her mother in her doll repair and restoration business while a teen and in college and she needs all that knowledge and the help of the local Phoenix doll cub, the Phoenix Dollers. However, it's not long before Gretchen realizes that maybe not all the members of the doll club can be trusted and one of them might be the murderer.

The information about dolls was fascinating and after taking some breaks to look up more information on some of the dolls mentioned, I realized what an interesting subject collectible dolls could be.

The characters were well drawn and interesting and most seemed to defy typecasting. The plot was straight forward, but solving it relies on knowing some information that neither Gretchen nor the reader would have until the end, so the conclusion offered satisfaction to the reader.

As a mystery/sleuth book lover and a doll costumer and collector this book was perfect! Really a fun read that kept me page-turning to the very end. Can't wait for the next one!

I LOVE cozy cottage mysteries! I was very excited about this series, as I am also a doll collector. However, I found the characters to be flat and uninteresting, the plot slow and tedious, and dang it, I WANTED TO LOVE THIS BOOK! But, honestly, it is SO boring!! I CAANNOT remember the last book I was so bored with that I had to push myself to finish it. ME, who reads everything, found a book, a mystery, about DOLLS, BORING! ARGHH!!